Granite Staters agree: Congress needs to fix federal tax code – now

HENNIKER — Regardless of their political parties, Granite Staters agree that the current federal tax system is broken and Congress needs to work in a bipartisan way to make it “simpler and fairer,” a new poll has found.

A New England College poll conducted exclusively for the New Hampshire Journal this week gives strong indication that when presidential candidates begin campaigning in New Hampshire in the coming months, Granite Staters will have an interest in talking to them about the tax code.

NEC conducted an automated survey of 541 registered New Hampshire voters on Dec. 1. Also included in the poll was a potential 2016 U.S. Senate matchup between Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan.

Two straightforward tax code-related statements were included in the poll and the voters were whether they agreed or disagreed:

_ “Republicans and Democrats need to work together to update the U.S. tax code and get America back working at its full potential.” 80 percent strongly agreed, 13.9 percent somewhat agreed, 3.1 percent were unsure or had no opinion, while only 2 percent somewhat disagreed and less than 1 percent strongly disagreed. Republicans and Democrats were in unison on this question, with 80.2 percent of Republicans and 77.5 percent of Democrats strongly agreeing with the statement.

_ “Congress has not made significant reforms to the U.S. tax code since 1986. The next Congress needs to update the tax code so that it is simpler, fairer and works better for today’s families and businesses.” 79.1 percent strongly agreed 13.1 percent somewhat agreed, 5.5 percent were unsure or had no opinion, 2 percent somewhat agreed and .2 percent strongly disagreed.

While Republicans and Democrats may disagree on what reforms should be made to the tax code, they agreed that changes are necessary, as 81.3 percent of Republicans and 79.1 percent of Democrats strongly agreed with the statement.